Pakistani villagers journeyed home as floodwaters began to recede in Karampur, in southern Pakistan, in late August. (Anjum Naveed/Associated Press)Members of Toronto's Pakistani community are pushing people to donate to relief efforts in their flood-ravaged former homeland before the federal government stops matching donations Sept. 12.

Businessman Mohammed Saleem hopes donations will go to smaller charities working on grassroots projects in Pakistan.

"The government of Pakistan is not going to do enough," Saleem said. "They're going to take their own share and put it in their pocket, and the poor people are not going to receive what they're supposed to," he said.

Mona El Sayeh of the International Development and Relief Foundation, a Muslim charity in the Toronto area, says she's heard some concerns about where the money will end up.

"It's important for them to know that it's going to the right people and in the right hands," she said. "We face this from the Pakistani community and the Muslim community and everybody."

El Sayeh says the foundation, which has raised nearly $2 million in the Greater Toronto area, thoroughly researches the partners it works with around the world and its 25-year history working in Pakistan and other regions gives it credibility with donors.

Floods that began in late July and did not begin to recede until late August have affected one-fifth of the South Asian country's land and left millions homeless. More than 1,700 people have died and more than 20 million have been affected.

Valerie Amos, the United Nations emergency relief co-ordinator, said in Pakistan this week that donations have plateaued.

The Canadian government has said it will match donations until Sept. 12. The federal Liberals are calling on Ottawa to extend the date.